In gas case, he’s the man who wasn’t there

Clean-up crews on the scene of a Dec. 27 gasoline spill at a Cumberland Farms store in Hudson Falls. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

It looked like an open-and-shut case. Police had Gary Vadnais’ car on camera backing into a gas pump around 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 27 at a Cumberland Farms in Hudson Falls. A credit card transaction in Vadnais’ name was made in the convenience store just before the accident.

When police tracked Vadnais down, he signed a sworn statement saying backed into the pump. Police say that accident caused a 1,200-gallon fuel leak that seeped into the sewers and ignited in Fort Edward, causing a series of violent explosions that rippled through town.

Vadnais was charged with with leaving the scene of an accident and endangering the public health or environment.

On Tuesday those charges were dismissed.

The Washington County district attorney’s office admitted that not only was Vadnais not driving the car when the pump was hit; he was not even at the scene.

Vandais admitted to a crime he did not commit. Why he did so and what happened that night are unclear.

Vadnais’ attorney, Tucker Stanclift, said his client was pressured into a confession. Stanclift says Vadnais bought beer at the store earlier that day and may not have remembered what time he was there.

Police and the district attorney say they did not pressure Vadnais into signing a statement. Washington County District Attorney Kevin Kortright said he does not fault police for charging Vadnais.

“If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck,” Kortright said. “And this guy was quacking pretty loud.”

Prosecutors and police still assert that Vadnais’ car that hit the pump — he just wasn’t driving it.